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Direct or indirect instruction?: An evaluation of three types of intervention programme for assisting students with specific reading difficulties
Abstract
Three intervention programmes (psycho‐motor, self‐esteem enhancement and Direct Instruction) were conducted over a 12‐week period with 40 children who had experienced difficulty with reading (x = 10.11 years). Ten children were randomly allocated to each treatment group and the remainder served as waiting‐list controls.The Direct Instruction programme resulted in gains in reading performance significantly greater than the other two programmes and the control group. None of the programmes succeeded in significantly raising performance levels on measures of psycho‐motor performance or self‐esteem.Post‐intervention questionnaires completed by the subjects, their parents and their classroom teachers indicated that perceived success differed significantly from measured success and that parents and children were predisposed towards the success of any programme to which they had committed themselves. An explanation was offered for the continued acceptance and use of intervention approaches which have failed to find significant support in the literature.
... Przychodzin-Havis et al. (2005) have proven that this program can be implemented with fidelity by both certified (i.e., general and special education teachers) and non-certified professionals (e.g., paraprofessionals), as well as nonprofessionals (e.g., tutors). When studied in comparison to other direct instruction programs, students who participated in Corrective Reading outperformed students in comparison groups, as noted in standardized and curriculum-based reading measures (Benner et al., 2005;Lloyd et al., 1980;Somerville & Leach, 1988;Thomson, 1992). ...
The acquisition of reading and writing is a key outcome of education; poor literacy is associated with difficulties throughout life. Many remedial reading programmes have been developed to address poor reading in school, but there has been a paucity of methodologically rigorous evaluations of such interventions. Where they have taken place, evaluations have been limited to either progress in reading and reading related skill, or to affective aspects of literacy. A small group intervention was introduced for children with very poor reading skills entering Year 3 (age 7/8 years) in a London school. A rigorous methodology (Randomised Controlled Trial, using waiting list controls) was employed to examine the effectiveness of the intervention on both achievement and affective dimensions. Little change was observed. Significant change was seen only in reading accuracy, and here the effect of the intervention was small (accounting for only 6% of the variance). There was some evidence that the children in the intervention group became less positive about books over the period of the intervention. A comparison between immediate and delayed (i.e. waiting list control) intervention groups showed that timing of the intervention did not affect progress. However, a significant proportion of children who were assigned to waiting did not go on to receive the intervention, either because of movement to other schools or because teachers' assessment of need changed. Follow-up data (up to 30 months post baseline) demonstrated that reading problems persisted in this group as a whole. An additional pilot study of functional literacy assessment was employed. Although the group identified as poor readers at age 7 years remained poor readers at age 9 years they were no less able, nor less likely to accurately follow written instructions to complete a cooking task.
The history of research on interventions for struggling readers in Grades 4 through 12 dates back to 19th-century case studies of seemingly intelligent children who were unable to learn to read. Physicians, psychologists, educators, and others were determined to help them. In the process, they launched a century of research on a wide variety of approaches to reading intervention. As shown in this systematic narrative review, much has changed over time in the conceptualization of reading interventions and the methods used to determine their efficacy in improving outcomes for struggling readers. Building on the knowledge gathered over the past 100 years, researchers and practitioners are well-poised to continue to make progress in developing and testing reading interventions over the next 100 years.
The Direct Instruction Corrective Reading Program Comprehension B was taught to an experimental group of 31 Year 6 students at the rate of 2 or 3 lessons per week for 8 months. A comparison group of 26 Year 6 students at an associated school were involved in a variety of literacy activities for equivalent periods of time. The ACER Tests of Learning Ability for Year 6 students were administered to all participants as a pre-test and a post-test. Analyses of the post-test data indicated that the experimental group was superior to the comparison group on the three subtests and the total score. Norm-referenced comparisons showed that the experimental group attained above average levels of performance, which contrasted with the average achievements of the comparison group. This differential was interpreted as evidence that the experimental group made educationally significant gains as a result of undertaking Corrective Reading Comprehension B.
The purpose of this study was to to present the effects of Direct and Indirect teaching method, both in theoretical and practical level, in order to decide which one is better acceptable to ages between 12-14 years old, in beginners players of football. The sample of this research included 50 total students, during a pilot program in a high school of Attiki. The program lasted 12 weeks, from 16 of September until 6 of December and the workouts occurred in frequency, 3 trainings per week, enduring 65 minutes each one. As a total, 36 coaching teams took place for each teaching method and also 25 students were used for each method. In order to realize this research, we used four reliable tests, which are the following: a) running with ball and time counting that evaluates them control of the ball and he change of direction, b) ground pass exactly from a distance of 20 meters in a target of one meter, which evaluates the accuracy in ground pass, c) movement with ball between 9 cones “slalom”, the distance of which is 1.5 meter and time counting that evaluates “dribbling”,d) “toe bounces”, in other words hitting the ball up in the air, that evaluates the ball control in the air. These tests have been used by many researchers and are analyzed below. For the statistical analysis, we used paired samples t-test in order to compare two averages and for the analysis we used statistical software SPSS20. The results of this research indicated that the method with the better results in the development of the examinee's movement skills to children between 12-14 years old, was the direct one or else the teacher-center method. We need to mention that there was an important difference compared to indirect teaching method.
Direct instruction approaches to the teaching of English spelling skills are described and evaluated. Two commercially available direct instruction spelling programmes (Spelling Mastery and Corrective Spelling through Morphographs) are outlined. Two Hong Kong projects utilizing these programmes are described; one in a primary school and the other in a secondary school. The results indicate that these programmes are effective in improving the spelling skills of pupils in mainstream schools who are of average to below average spelling ability. There is evidence to suggest that the programmes are most successful with pupils who are low-performing spellers relative to their peers.
In this meta-analytic review we examined self-concept outcomes of school-based interventions for students with learning disabilities (LD). A comprehensive search of the literature from 1975 to 1997 yielded 64 intervention studies that used a control group of students with LD and measured the effect of the intervention on students' self-concept. Across 82 samples of students with LD, the mean weighted effect size was 0.19. Overall, middle school students benefited more from interventions than did elementary or high school students. The type of intervention that was most effective differed for students at different grade levels. Whereas counseling interventions were more effective than other types of interventions for middle and high school students with LD, the most effective interventions for elementary students with LD were those that focused on improving students' academic skills. Interventions had more of an effect on students' academic self-concept than on other dimensions of self-concept. The findings are discussed in terms of both the conceptual issues surrounding self-concept and the practical implications for school-based interventions.
The purpose of this program evaluation was to examine the effects of Phono-Graphix, an intensive tertiary-level reading intervention, on the basic reading skills of 16 students aged 6 to 17 years who received special education services. Instruction was delivered one-on-one or in small groups of two or three students. Instruction lasted 8 weeks. Students were pre- and posttested using the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-3rd Edition: Tests of Achievement (WJ-III ACH). Results of this program evaluation indicated that the reading skills of students with disabilities improved. Statistically significant gains were made by the elementary and upper elementary/secondary students. The effect size gains were all above .39. Results are discussed with regard to effective interventions for students with reading disabilities and implications for future research.
Questions related to the validity, efficacy, and prevalence of the psychoeducational practice of modifying instruction in accord with children's relative modality strengths are examined in a research review and in a survey of practicing special education teachers. Despite attempts to assess relative modality strength using 32 separate tests, subtests, or combinations thereof in conjunction with a variety of instructional interventions, no one has successfully demonstrated that beginning reading instruction can be improved by modality and instructional matching. In spite of the absence of evidence that supports modality instructional matching, textbooks urge teachers to adopt this approach, and the majority of special education teachers believe in and employ this model. Implications of these findings are discuseed both for teacher training programs and for instructional practice.
A scientific approach to the teaching of reading is provided in this book. The chapters are: "Psychological Factors in Word Recognition,""Factors in Reading Ability,""Preparatory Period in Learning to Read,""A Psychological Analysis of Reading Methods,""Organization of Reading in Infant Classes,""Organization of Reading in Junior Classes,""Understanding and Interpretation,""Telling Stories and Reading Books,""Providing for Personal Needs and Interests," and "Methods and Materials for Older Backward Readers." The appendix provides: a list of language development programs and materials, a list of slide programs and cassettes to help encourage reading, a list of booklets on reading materials, information about the Schonell "Graded Word Reading Test," a list of individual and group reading tests, and a list of periodicals on children's literature. (SW)
Presents an overview of the research in Australia regarding instruction of a variety of learners, including moderately to severely retarded and gifted children, migrants, aboriginals, and "normal" learners. Among the factors analyzed are characteristics, language/reading program used, research design, duration of study, and results. While concern has been expressed at all levels of the Australian community that the schools are not making children sufficiently competent in their critical basic skills, it is concluded that the direct instruction research conducted over a 10-yr period has been shown to be effective with a wide spectrum of learners in many geographical areas. It is noted that this raises important questions about effective teaching and educational accountability. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The dominant instructional model within special education, Differential Diagnosis-Prescriptive Teaching, involves the assessment of psycholinguistic and perceptual motor abilities that are presumed necessary for learning basic academic skills. Based on the differential pattern of ability strengths and weaknesses resulting from this assessment, individual remedial prescriptions are prescribed. In this article six assumptions underlying this model are identified. Also presented is a comprehensive review of research related to each assumption. The findings seriously challenge the model’s validity and suggest that continued advocacy of the model cannot be justified. Children do not appear to profit from current applications of Differential Diagnosis-Prescriptive Teaching.
This study reports the findings of a meta-analysis, the application of statistical methods of data synthesis from individual studies, reviewing 180 studies assessing the efficacy of perceptual-motor training. The primary finding indicated that perceptual-motor training is not an effective intervention technique for improving academic, cognitive, or perceptual-motor variables. The data were refined into more discrete groupings spanning the diverse assortment of outcomes, programs, subject, grades, and design variables. For each aggregated subset, support was rendered for the primary finding. It was concluded that extant research, although possessing methodological flaws not allowing definitive conclusions in previous narrative reviews, has demonstrated that perceptual-motor training is not effective and should be questioned as a feasible intervention technique for exceptional children.
The Feingold diet, eliminating artificial colorings, artificial flavorings, and salicylates, has been claimed, based on anecdotal evidence, to improve the learning and behavior of hyperactive children. A review of all published, completed controlled studies, however, indicates that the Feingold diet is probably not effective, except perhaps in a very small percentage of children. The positive results in a few studies have been inconsistent between studies and greatly outnumbered by negative results. Even among children whose parents feel the diet has helped them greatly, the improvement seems more often a placebo effect, e.g., due to the increased attention the child is receiving, than a true effect of artificial colorings or flavorings.
A review of research examines the relationship between visual perceptual skills and reading achievement using meta-analysis to integrate statistically the results from 161 studies. A total of 1,571 correlation coefficients were collected and aggregated across eight visual perceptual skills, six reading abilities, three grade levels, and three subject groups. Additionally, a correlation matrix was constructed and used for a factor analysis, cannonical correlation analysis, and step-wise multiple regression analysis descriptive of the relationship among and between visual perceptual skills, intelligence, and reading achievement variables. The findings suggested that visual perception is an important correlate of reading achievement, but the proportion of explained variance in reading skills was contingent on the combination of visual and reading variables considered. It was concluded that visual perceptual skills should be included in the complex of factors predictive of reading achievement.